Last night was a blur…

Dastardos woke from a deep, nightmare-free sleep and blinked, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. He couldn't help noticing that he felt… warm. Warm and comfortable. Not like the usual hard ground he slept on. Wait… where did this bed come from? And why are there arms around me…?

Dastardos turned his head as far as it would go and saw Avalon's sleeping unmasked face. His heart jumpstarted and his breaths became shallow. It… it wasn't a dream…

Last night Dastardos did things he thought he would never do in his entire immortal existence. It was a great payoff for stealing that bed from one of the girls' guest rooms.

Dastardos slipped out of Avalon's arms and got dressed, happily humming to himself. He was trying not to think about the fact that he'd eventually have to go back home. Back to being yelled at every day, back to being beaten with shovels, back to answering to Pester…

My father… Dastardos scoffed. He couldn't tell Avalon about that. Not now, anyway… if she learned who fathered her new boyfriend, she'd run the other way…

Boyfriend, huh? Thinking that word distracted Dastardos from his parentage. Am I her… boyfriend? I never thought I could call myself anyone's boyfriend…

Dastardos leaned forward and studied Avalon's sleeping face. People don't do what we just did if they're just 'friends.' I… I can't ask her straight out, she'll laugh at me…

He sighed and looked to the corner, where Magnar had fallen asleep facing the wall. I think I'm gonna apologize to him. Watching Avalon sleep would just be downright creepy…

And so, Dastardos floated over to his piñata companion and took him in his arms, doing his best to give him as much attention as possible. He did spend an awful long time ignoring Magnar last night, after all, he had to make up for lost time!

VPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVP

Yen woke up with his lips throbbing.

He found that he had his arms around the Avalon poster Eddie had made, crinkling it up the slightest bit. Sighing, Yen moved out of bed and placed the drawing on his desk, the back of it against the wall so it was sitting straight up.

"I'm going to find you, Avalon…" Yen ran his thumb over the picture of her face. "I promise. We're going to be just fine…"

With a glance at his mirror, Yen noticed the paper cuts on his lips and blushed, quickly putting his mask on. He looked at his clock and saw that it was one in the afternoon. It was no wonder he slept in; he was up super late, after all. Yen changed into a clean sweatshirt, one with red patterns rather than his usually grey and black, and headed outside, hoping in vain that someone, anyone, had seen his missing girl.

Yen blazed outside and saw Seedos walking by with Leena, the former with his arm around the latter, who looked awfully upset.

Yen leapt in Seedos' path and nearly gave him a heart attack.

"Dang, Yen!" Seedos wheezed, trying to catch his breath. "I was ready to throw Leena at you!"
"What?" Leena asked, raising her head and squinting at Seedos.

"Just joking," Seedos patted his girlfriend on the head and straightened up, looking Yen in the eyes. "What do you want? I'd expect Yoto to leap in my path, not you."

"Have either of you seen Avalon?" Yen asked, his breath short. "She's been missing for a long time now… I've been losing sleep…"

"I can tell…" Seedos leaned forward, squinting at Yen. "Even your mask's eyes are all smeary…"

"We… we haven't seen Avalon…" Leena leaned into herself, folding her arms and looking away. Yen had really been freaking her out lately… he wasn't his usual, quiet self… he was downright insane! "Maybe… maybe she doesn't want to be found… she'd tell me if she was going somewhere otherwise… right, Seedos?"

Seedos looked over at Leena and saw that her eyes were shining with the threat of tears. Seedos squeaked a bit and squeezed Leena's hand in an attempt to reassure her. "She sure would. But why wouldn't she want to be found?"

Seedos and Leena said nothing, but they slowly turned their heads to look at Yen.

Yen's mask turned completely white. "Are you trying to imply you think she ran away because of me?" Yen's voice cracked and he did his best to keep tears from filling his eyes. He had a reputation to uphold, after all…

"No, no, no, we're not!" Leena and Seedos backpedaled in unison.

"Tell you what, Yen," Seedos offered. "You and I go WAY back, so I'll help you out. Leena and I will help you organize a search party for Avalon! If we can't find her anywhere around the Village, then we can worry. Okay?"

"Y-yeah! We can help you!" Leena's desire to see her idol again far outweighed her fear of Yen's new attitude.

The color slowly returned to Yen's mask and he hunched over a bit with relief. "You two would really help me…?"

"Of course we will!" Seedos grinned widely and nodded, hoping that a smile would make Yen act a little less weird.

"Awesome!" Yen shoved his way in between Leena and Seedos, taking both of their arms. "Let's go get Eddie! He can use his megaphone to get everyone to the town square!" With that, Yen began to drag them along towards Eddie's mansion.

Leena and Seedos shared a glance behind Yen's back, both of them hoping that they wouldn't regret helping the lovelorn Yen.

VPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVP

"Please, everyone! Help us! I love her more than anything!" Yen begged the Village from his place on the town square's platform, doing his best to fight back tears. He had borrowed Eddie's megaphone to preach his feelings in hopes of swaying everyone's hearts. He knew he was at least swaying Eddie's, because tears were streaming down his cheeks with no hope of stopping.

Bart rolled his eyes and tapped on his fiancée's shoulder. "He's embarrassing himself," he growled. "His love for this woman is a bit too obsessive. He's not helping the rumors that have been flying around."

"How would you feel if I went missing, Bart?" Gretchen looked down at her shorter beau and he blushed.

"Point taken…" Bart grumbled, folding his arms.

Yoto bit his nails from where he stood next to Storkos. If he had just told Yen that Avalon dumped him…

…no, things would be even worse. Yen would be convinced that her running away was all his fault and he would have gone completely nuts. He'd probably be taken away by creepy guys in white masks and coats, never to be seen again. As much as Yen irritated Yoto sometimes, Yoto didn't want anything bad to happen to his brother!

"We'll help you, Yen!" Storkos raised her arm, her voice heroic. "I'll fly all around the Village and the jungle; I'll even check our neighboring villages for you!"

"We'll help you find your girl," Maxime nodded up at him, leaning on the platform. "Don't sweat it."

Yen let out a sigh of relief. "You are all the best!"

"Avalon's a big part of the town's economy, too!" Langston's voice came from somewhere in the crowd. "If she isn't around to take care of her garden and send piñatas to Piñata Central, things could be disastrous!"

"Things are already disastrous!" Yen tore at his hair and glared at where the Lickatoad's voice came from. "Not that you'd understand matters of the heart, Langston."

Langston squished into a little green ball of misery.

"Don't mess with Langston, Yen," Eddie climbed up onto the stage and took his megaphone back. "Everyone already agreed to help."

Yen sighed and relaxed his shoulders. Eddie flicked on the megaphone and began dividing everyone up into groups. Yen got put with his twin brother, Sahari, and Langston. They were told to search the jungle around the outskirts of the Village. Everyone split up and that group headed into the jungle.

"Since it's a search party…" Langston reached into his candy cavity and fished around for a few moments. "I brought party hats!" He pulled out a bunch of conical hats and grinned at the group.

"It's not that kind of party, Langston!" Yen tore at his hair again, clearly exasperated.

"That's cute and all, but…" Sahari made a face as she looked at the pointy headwear. "…I don't want anything that's been sitting in your stomach."

"More for me!" Yoto grabbed two party hats from Langston and stuck them both on his head in a mockery of devil horns. "Look, I'm Jardiniero!"

Sahari put a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggling.

Yen whipped around and glared at his twin, fire burning in his eyes. "How can you just stand there and wear hats?! Avalon is missing!"

Yoto shrugged. "I'm the comic relief. Come on, we won't find her if we're just standing around."

The four of them combed through the jungle, perhaps venturing a little too far. Eventually, they got hungry and watched in amazement as Sahari shimmied up a tree to grab them all bananas, which Yoto tinkered into various sweets.

"This can't be healthy…" Yen looked at his banana split with disdain. "Yoto, you know I'm lactose intolerant."

"Tough," Chunks of bananas foster sprayed from Yoto's mouth. "You haven't eaten in like a week, so you need some sugar in your bloodstream!"

"…I'm good," Yen pushed his bowl away.

"Aww yes! More for me!" Sahari, who had already gobbled up her meal of chocolate covered fried bananas, tore into Yen's banana split without even asking.

Langston looked forlornly at his banana, which simply had icing and sprinkles slopped over the peel. "Can't… can't I have something better?"

"Give Storkos some time off and then I'll make you all the sweets you want," Yoto smirked at Langston, flicking the little frog's party hat.

"Hmph, playing dirty, eh? I'll give her overtime just for that!" Langston pulled his clipboard out of his candy cavity and began to write something down.

Yoto grabbed Langston's clipboard and threw it as far as it would go.

Langston let out the biggest scream that the group had ever heard and went hopping off after it.

"Well, that got rid of him…" Yoto stood up, brushing bits of banana off of his shirt. "Everyone done? Let's keep looking!"

"You're a lifesaver, Yoto," Sahari sighed gratefully. "If I had to listen to that little bastard's voice for three more seconds, I probably would have thrown him into the jungle."

"Stop messing around!" Yen stomped his foot. "We have to find Avalon!"

"Yeah, that's…" Yoto glanced at Sahari and figured he better not say what he was about to say. "…a thing we have to do! C'mon, everyone, allons-y!" Sweeping his arm, Yoto led the charge into the jungle, no one missing Langston's presence whatsoever.

They spent the rest of the day chasing every shadow they came across until night fell. Along the way, Sahari found a gorgeous pink flower that reminded her of a cactus blossom and Yen insisted that she put it in her hair. As Yen smoothed Sahari's unruly locks and tucked the flower safely within them, Yoto raised his eyebrows… and they rose into orbit when Sahari looked away from Yen and blushed a bit, stating the flower probably looked stupid. Yen tried to talk her into keeping it and Yoto got more and more excited by the moment.

Wait… if Sahari broke up with Sparty… and Avalon and Yen broke up… A smirk spread across Yoto's mask. Sahari could be JUST what he needs to get out of his rut!

Later in the day, as the two of them were standing around talking during a break, Yoto made sure to spook a Sour Mallowolf and sent it barreling in their direction. Much to his delight, it smacked Sahari right on the back and sent her toppling right on top of Yen, bowling him over to the ground.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Sahari's mask was beet red as she looked right into Yen's eyes. "Goddamned Sour Mallowolves… ow…"

Yen slipped out from underneath Sahari and offered her a hand. "Are you okay?" he asked, a light breeze blowing his long red hair as he looked down at Sahari with concern.

Yoto slipped behind a tree, a gremlin-like grin on his wide mouth. This was just like something out of those romance movies Storkos watched with him! He pretended to not like them to preserve his masculinity, but he secretly loved them to bits. But seeing this stuff in real life? It was practically magical! Damn, my plan might actually work!

"I'm fine, just got the wind knocked out of me…" Sahari's hand clasped Yen's and he pulled her to her feet. "Can we find that piñata and smash it?" Sahari mashed a fist into an open palm.

"First we need to find my girlfriend!" Yen leaned to the side and glared. "Yoto, I can see your dumb party hat horn sticking out from behind that tree. Come on, we've got work to do!"

With that, Yen marched into the forest like a knight about to save a beautiful princess.

Oh, that's right… Yoto bit the tip of his gloved hand as he stepped over to Sahari. I keep forgetting I never told him about the breakup…

"Why do you look so sad?" Sahari asked, punching Yoto on the arm. "Avalon's your best friend! We're totally gonna find her!"

No, we're not, Yoto almost said, but he bit his tongue really hard to keep from letting those words slip out.

The group kept searching until nightfall, venturing a bit too far into the woods. They got confronted by another Sour Mallowolf, but Sahari rugby tackled it and Yoto broke its head open with a huge stick he grabbed.

"BADASS!" Yoto high fived her, helping her off the ground. "Thanks for helping, Yen!" Yoto stuck his tongue out at his brother. "Really nice way to treat a lady!"

Yen clenched his fists so hard his veins almost burst out of his skin. He whipped around, his mask purpled with rage. "All you two did all day was mess around! The only lady I care about could be dead right now, and Yoto has two party hats on and Sahari is tackling dangerous piñatas!" Yen tore at his red hair, his mask turning even darker.

"Yeesh, calm down! We're sorry!" Sahari folded her arms. "Hey, someone in town could have figured out where she is, so let's go see what's going on!" Sahari ran over to Yen and pulled on his arm. Yoto gulped; she was clearly playing with fire. Yen was practically rooted to his spot.

Yen let out a long, angry breath. "I hope so… I'm so worried…"

Sahari patted his arm. "We'll find her. I promise." With that, she guided Yen out of the jungle, Yoto jogging after them.

No we woooon't~ Yoto sing-songed repeatedly in his head. He knew this night would end in tears no matter what. He might as well tell Yen while things were bad already… get it all over with at once. But not now. Yen and Sahari were dead set on getting to town, and Yoto couldn't exactly announce the thing about Avalon's destination without Sahari hearing it.

Especially since Yen would inevitably freak out…

Yoto swallowed his pride and picked up his pace, catching up with his brother and friend. This was going to be a trying evening…

VPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVP

Yen went into town with the slightest bit of hope in his heart, but those hopes were quickly dashed. He looked around at every mask in the crowd, but he didn't see Avalon's head poking up among them at all.

"Nothing…?" Yen looked at the crowd, blinking back tears.

Everyone glanced at each other, disappointed expressions on their faces.

"I'm sorry, Yen…" Eddie broke the silence, his own cheeks streaked with tear stains. "We couldn't find so much as a trace of her. We really worked hard, and we're sorry… but…"

"UGH! All of you are USELESS!" Yen stomped back home without so much as a thank you to the group of people who wasted several hours of their lives trying to find Yen's wayward girlfriend.

Everyone looked after him in stunned silence, that is, until Sahari blurted out "What an asshole!"

Yoto sighed. So much for Yen's rebound relationship…

"I'd like to apologize on behalf of my dumb brother," Yoto looked at the crowd, his brow furrowed and his hands clasped together. "Ever since Avalon disappeared, he's been, well… completely bonkers."

"No shit, Sherlock," Maxime sniggered a bit, her expression malicious. "I can't frickin' believe we wasted all this time looking for his girlfriend. Why did we do this again?"
"Because Yen's a citizen of the town and we help each other out," Eddie glared at Maxime, shaking his head. He couldn't believe the things that came out of her beautiful mouth sometimes…

"You're right…" Maxime folded her arms. "Still, he could have been more grateful."

"Yen's just stressed!" Storkos struggled to defend her boyfriend's twin. "I'm sure once he calms down, he'll apologize to all of us!"

"Bear hopes so," Bear slammed a fist into his open palm. "If Yen don't apologize for being a creep, Bear's gonna rearrange his face!"

"I'll go check on him!" Yoto offered, smiling sheepishly at the crowd. "If anyone can cheer Yen up, it's me." After all, I have a hunch of where Avalon is… but… I don't know if it'll cheer him up at all…

Storkos gave Yoto a glowing smile and he felt like he got stabbed in the heart. Oh no, she's gonna have to witness my failure… please don't think any less of me, Storkos!

"Good luck, boy," Bart gave Yoto a vaguely terrified look. "I'm not going anywhere near our house until I know for sure you defused the bomb that is Yen's temper."

"Leave it to me, Uncle Bart!" With a salute, Yoto took off towards his house and his undoubtedly fuming twin. Hopefully Yen wouldn't kill him and parade around town with his head on a stake…

"…I never thought I'd say this, but…" Eddie held up his arms. "Prayer circle for Yoto Yoa."

VPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVP

Yoto came home to find the teapot loudly whistling and Yen about to pick it up, his expression sullen and his hands shaking like crazy.

"Yen…" Yoto said gently, slowly entering the house as not to provoke his brother. He was scarier than a wild Tigermisu when he was like this…

"What?" Yen sounded snippy. He poured his tea, giving off every single body signal that he wanted to be left alone. "Can't you see I'm grieving?" Yen lifted his cup to his lips and turned away from Yoto, looking like he was ready to cry.

"Yen, what I'm about to say might be shocking…" Yoto took a deep breath, clenched his fists, squeezed his eyes shut, and blurted: "I KNOW WHERE AVALON IS!"

Yen spat his tea all over creation, dropping his cup to the ground and shattering it.

Not caring about the hot tea all over his sweatshirt, Yen flew over to Yoto, grabbed him by the shoulders, and slammed him against the wall, leaning too close to his face.

"WHERE IS SHE?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?! DO YOU LIKE WATCHING ME FREAK OUT?!" Since Yen was so close, Yoto could clearly see he was sweating and his eyes were bloodshot. God, Yen really HAS gone crazy…

"No, I… I couldn't say it in front of all those people!" Yoto rapidly shook his head. "It's… it's Dastardos! She learned about our lie! She overheard you talking about it! She went after him and I have no idea where she is! I'm sorry!"

Much to Yoto's shock, Yen punched him right in the face, hard enough to crack his mask down the middle and make Yoto's nose turn into a geyser of blood.

Yoto slid to the ground, the wind knocked out of him, looking up at his brother with horror.

In that moment, Yoto saw something happen to Yen's expression. It went from pure hatred and malice to shame and regret.

"Yoto… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hit you…" Yen was shaking now, offering his bloodied brother a hand.

Yoto slapped Yen's hand away and staggered to his feet, tossing his cracked mask aside. Yoto's nose was swollen and messed up; obviously Yen had done much more damage than he intended to do. Blood dribbled off of Yoto's chin and onto the floor.

"You're insane," Yoto shook his head, looking like he was ready to cry. "I miss when you were the thoughtful, quiet Yen that I thought would be perfect for my best friend. Now you've just… lost it."

"Yoto…" Yen's voice was starting to simmer and Yoto reflexively covered his nose, just in case Yen decided to smack him again. "How would you feel… if some asshole came out of nowhere… and took Storkos away from you? He stole her heart and you could tell she was ready to leave you behind. What would you do? What would you think of that guy?"

"I'd…" Yoto sighed. He wasn't going to lie to his brother. "I'd probably be angry. I'd go nuts. I'd want him dead. It's gross and jealous and totally a dick move, but that's what I'd do."

"That's how I feel right now," Yen tilted his chin upwards, eyeing his brother. "That's why I'm so crazy. And you come in here and tell me that she left me without saying a word… to go after that man I despise with every fiber of my being?"

"Yes…" Yoto scrubbed at his bloody nose, refusing to make eye contact with his brother. "Yen… I didn't want you to run around without any hope of finding her, okay? You need to know the truth."

"Do you know… where she went? Exactly?" Yen's expression was desperate and he grabbed Yoto by the shoulders, which made him bristle.

"No…" Yoto shook his head. "No idea."

Yen hissed through his teeth and raised his fist again, but quickly caught himself, letting Yoto go. "I… guess it can't be helped. Do you… think she's okay?"

"I hope she is. As much as you do," Yoto made his way to the kitchen counter and grabbed a paper towel, mopping his nose with it. "The best we can do is hope."

"I… I need to be alone right now," Without another world, Yen whirled around and headed back into his room.

Yoto watched him go from over his bloody paper towel, his eyes sad.

I hope Yen doesn't do anything drastic… Yoto's stomach tied into a knot. I… never thought I'd say this, but I'm worried about him…